Assessment Begins

With his Body of Thunder, Qin Shaofeng had no trouble at all learning the Lightning Release ninjutsu, Lightning Armor.

At this moment, Qin Shaofeng truly realized that learning the system's skills really did require the right innate conditions.

If he did not possess the Body of Thunder, he probably would not have been able to learn Lightning Release either.

Moreover, if Qin Shaofeng wanted to learn other ninjutsu, he would have to possess other constitutions as well.

Of course, this did not mean he needed special constitutions like a Body of Fire or a Body of Water. As long as he had a fire-element constitution, that would suffice. It did not need to be especially powerful for him to learn other ninjutsu.

Lightning Release: Lightning Armor: Level 1, 0/100. Human-grade three-star skill. Summons lightning to cling to the body, forming Lightning Armor that increases the player's defense and blocks enemy attacks. Currently Level 1. Can summon low-level lightning to form low-level Lightning Armor. Maintaining Lightning Armor for one minute consumes 100 points of Inner Qi.

After learning Lightning Armor, Qin Shaofeng did not go out at all.

Even if he went out, Qin Shaofeng, who only possessed the status of a participant in the assessment, could not leave the area where the examinees lived. Thus, over the next two days, he hid in his room and frantically cultivated Lightning Armor.

Under that frantic cultivation to increase its proficiency, Qin Shaofeng raised Lightning Armor to Level 2 in just two days.

This was also thanks to the Level 2 Yi Jin Jing, which gave Qin Shaofeng not only 2,750 points of Inner Qi, but also allowed him to recover 5 points every minute. Otherwise, no matter how frantically he cultivated, he could not possibly have raised Lightning Armor to Level 2 in only two days.

Level 2 Lightning Armor was not vastly different from Level 1. Its defense had merely increased by quite a bit.

If Level 1 Lightning Armor allowed Qin Shaofeng to ignore attacks from those at the same realm, or even those one minor realm above him—

Then the defensive power of Level 2 Lightning Armor was enough to let Qin Shaofeng ignore the attacks of most martial artists below the Xiantian Realm.

The Inner Qi consumed per minute, however, had not changed. It was still 100 points.

Qin Shaofeng did not care much about that. After obtaining Level 2 Lightning Armor, he became increasingly confident about taking first place in the assessment.

Just as Qin Shaofeng raised Lightning Armor to Level 2, Du Meng came looking for him.

But when Qin Shaofeng saw Du Meng again, he was greatly startled.

That was because Du Meng was no longer at the early stage of the Houtian Tenth Layer. He had reached the Mid Houtian Tenth Layer.

Even his Inner Qi had increased somewhat, reaching exactly 2,000 points.

Qin Shaofeng knew that Du Meng had broken through to the Houtian Tenth Layer only half a month ago. Yet in less than half a month, he had risen from the early stage to the middle stage. That was truly frightening.

Du Meng was not like Qin Shaofeng, who had a system to raise his level.

Rising by one minor realm in only half a month, and a minor realm within the Houtian Tenth Layer at that—if word got out, it would definitely cause quite a stir.

Qin Shaofeng asked Du Meng whether his future master had given him special tutoring. Thinking of that, Qin Shaofeng felt somewhat envious of Du Meng.

Having someone behind your back really was better!

But Du Meng's answer left Qin Shaofeng both amused and exasperated. His master had not given him any special tutoring at all. Instead, he had beaten him up viciously.

Only then did Qin Shaofeng learn that the special body-tempering cultivation method Du Meng practiced could increase his strength while he was being beaten.

At once, Qin Shaofeng was no longer envious of Du Meng.

No matter how quickly such a self-abusing cultivation method could improve him, he would never cultivate it.

Getting beaten up to raise your realm—what kind of nonsense was that?

Du Meng himself did not think much of it. On the contrary, he was rather happy, because according to his future master, with his current strength, entering the top twenty in the admissions assessment would be no problem at all.

If he performed exceptionally well, even the top ten was possible!

Hearing Du Meng say this, Qin Shaofeng's heart stirred, and he proposed that they spar.

When Du Meng heard Qin Shaofeng propose a spar, his first reaction was to shake his head fiercely. In a muffled voice, he said, "Brother Feng, forget it. I'm afraid I'll hurt you!"

If Qin Shaofeng had not come to understand Du Meng and learned his personality, he might have taken this as Du Meng looking down on him.

But Qin Shaofeng, who understood Du Meng's nature, knew that Du Meng was telling the truth and had no intention whatsoever of belittling him.

"Mengzi, don't worry. Your Brother Feng isn't that frail!" Qin Shaofeng said with a faint smile.

But as soon as he said that, Du Meng seriously looked him up and down, then said hesitantly, "Brother Feng, with your build, you really do look a little frail!"

Fuck your grandpa!

My build is already pretty good!

At sixteen, I was already 1.7 meters tall and weighed over 120 pounds. That was perfectly standard!

But Qin Shaofeng soon realized that Mengzi was judging his build by his own standards, which left Qin Shaofeng both amused and helpless.

Don't treat yourself as normal. Your build has already left the human race behind!

In the end, under Qin Shaofeng's insistent demands, Du Meng reluctantly agreed to fight him.

However, from the very beginning, Du Meng made up his mind that he absolutely would not use his full strength.

But very quickly, he learned that he was wrong!

What exactly happened that night, and what the result of Qin Shaofeng and Du Meng's spar was, remained unknown to everyone except the two involved.

However, whenever Du Meng recalled that night's spar in the future, he would say, "From that night onward, Brother Feng became an unbelievable person in my eyes."

Early the next morning, Qin Shaofeng and Du Meng walked out of their rooms.

In truth, neither of them had slept.

Their spar the night before had already produced a victor not long after it began.

Qin Shaofeng had to admit that Du Meng's build was no joke. He was truly thick-skinned and tough-fleshed!

At first, Du Meng believed Qin Shaofeng was no match for him, so he did not attack Qin Shaofeng at all. Instead, he stood in place and allowed Qin Shaofeng to attack him.

But what left Qin Shaofeng speechless was that he really could do nothing to Du Meng.

Du Meng's defense was too astonishing. He completely ignored Qin Shaofeng's attacks.

Qin Shaofeng's Wudang Long Fist and Huashan Basic Swordplay Moves were utterly ineffective against Du Meng. After attacking for quite a while, Qin Shaofeng understood that attacks below the Houtian Tenth Layer could not harm Du Meng at all.

In the end, Qin Shaofeng used Lightning Armor.

While cultivating Lightning Armor over the previous two days, Qin Shaofeng discovered that once he activated Lightning Armor, his Body of Thunder would trigger. When he attacked, his strikes would carry the Power of Thunder.

That was no small matter.

The Wudang Long Fist infused with the Power of Thunder finally made Du Meng unable to defend himself.

Although he still was not truly injured, the Power of Thunder made Du Meng feel as if he had been electrocuted. Every time Qin Shaofeng threw a punch, Du Meng's entire body would tremble from the shock.

This finally made Du Meng begin to counterattack.

But before long, Du Meng realized something was wrong.

What had happened to Qin Shaofeng earlier was now happening to him as well.

He attacked, yet Qin Shaofeng blocked every strike.

And every time his attack landed on Qin Shaofeng's body, his fist would be bounced away by a flash of electricity, and he would suffer an electric shock.

Ordinary people could not see Qin Shaofeng's Lightning Armor. Only when Qin Shaofeng was attacked would faint sparks appear.

At first, Du Meng's attacks had been cautious, for fear of injuring Qin Shaofeng. But as he gradually put more and more strength into them, until Du Meng finally attacked with all his might, he clearly realized one thing.

When it came to defense, he was no match for Qin Shaofeng!

That discovery left Du Meng completely dumbfounded.

But Du Meng did not know that Qin Shaofeng was having a hard time as well.

Although Lightning Armor blocked Du Meng's attacks and kept Qin Shaofeng from suffering any real injuries, every time Du Meng attacked, his Inner Qi was consumed at an accelerated rate.

This made Qin Shaofeng understand that while maintaining Lightning Armor consumed 100 points of Inner Qi per minute, once he came under attack, the consumption of Inner Qi would rise sharply.

Lightning Armor was good, but its consumption was simply too great!

His attacks were ineffective, while he himself suffered electric shocks. This left Du Meng deeply confused and frustrated.

But soon, Du Meng delightedly discovered that while being electrocuted, his body was actually improving slightly.

It seemed that when the lightning on Qin Shaofeng's body shocked Du Meng, Du Meng's special self-abusing body-tempering cultivation method improved under the self-abuse of those electric shocks.

It was as though he had been tempered by lightning!

This discovery made Qin Shaofeng completely certain that what Du Meng cultivated was a brain-dead self-abusing cultivation method!

However, since his Lightning Armor could help improve Du Meng's strength, Qin Shaofeng had no intention of stopping. Their spar ultimately turned into a cultivation session for Du Meng's improvement.

Only when the sky began to brighten slightly did the two stop and begin taking medicinal pills to recover.

Though the time had been short, Du Meng's strength had improved considerably, giving him confidence that he could enter the top ten.

Du Meng had given him the pills. They were pills that restored Inner Qi, and they were even Mortal-grade Three-star pills.

In just one hour, Qin Shaofeng's depleted Inner Qi fully recovered, and even his mental exhaustion vanished completely.

After leaving the room, Qin Shaofeng and Du Meng hurried toward the designated location.

Today was the day of Lianyang Academy's admissions assessment.

Qin Shaofeng had stayed in his room without coming out for the past two days, so he had no idea how many people were participating in this assessment.

As for Du Meng, there was even less need to mention him. With his personality, he would never pay attention to such matters.

But looking at the sea of people before them, Qin Shaofeng finally understood that the number participating in this admissions assessment was likely far greater than one hundred thousand.

Lianyang City, where Lianyang Academy was located, had four gates—east, west, south, and north. The admissions assessment began simultaneously at all four gates, and Qin Shaofeng and Du Meng were at the east gate.

Qin Shaofeng did not know how many people were at the other three gates, but the east gate alone had over a hundred assessment sites.

Although they had arrived early, Qin Shaofeng and Du Meng still ended up at the back of a very long queue.

There was no opening ceremony. As soon as the appointed hour arrived, testing began at the front of the line.

The first tests, age and cultivation, were relatively convenient.

From the little booklet, Qin Shaofeng had learned that Lianyang Academy had special tools for testing age and cultivation, so they did not take much time.

The final strength test, however, would take some time.

It was said that the final strength test took place in a separate room, where participants fought puppets.

As for exactly how they fought, Qin Shaofeng did not yet know. But he did know that the more puppets one defeated, the more it proved they could achieve a good result.